Thewesternbalkans
On 6th of June President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik visited Sankt Petersburg and had a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
During the meeting the two leaders discussed the situation on the region of Western Balkans, Russia-BiH relations and the consequences of the resolution adopted at the end of May by the UN General Assembly on the recognition of genocide in Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995, in particular, establishes July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of those Events.
The meeting with Dodik permitted the Russian President to declare that Russia will help improve the situation in the Balkans. Putin recalled that overall trade volumes between the parties are still modest, but recovery growth is noticeable. Putin also thanked Dodik for his activities in the “spiritual sphere”. Russia, according to the head of state, stands for compliance with the Dayton Agreements, since the norms set out in them can serve as the basis for further development of the situation in Bosnia. “Only those powers recorded in these international legal documents are the basis for not just maintaining the situation, but for its development and strengthening. We will contribute to this in every possible way,” the Russian leader said during a meeting with his Serbian colleague.
Dodik, on the eve of the meeting with the Russian leader, spoke on Radio and Television of the Republika Srpska and thanked the Russian Federation “for its clear position” on the resolution of “genocide in Srebrenica” at the UN General Assembly, with the help of which the West is trying to denigrate the Serbs.
„President Putin understands well that with these methods the West wants to satanize a people who have suffered a lot in its history. He is against such trends, so it will be easy for me to talk to him on this topic,” summarized Dodik. Russia voted against this resolution and believes that its adoption “could only exacerbate existing differences” in Bosnia and spark new conflicts in the Balkans.
Comments: Milorad Dodik vent to Russia the previous time quite recently, in February 2024, for the opening of the first international Games of the Future in Kazan.
After the resolution of UN General Assembly on the recognition of genocide in Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995, Dodik said that the Serbs can no longer live in the same country with the Bosniaks, and promised within 30 days to present an agreement on the peaceful division of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On the other hand, however, Putin’s public declaration that his country supports the Dayton Agreement rather suggests that, at the moment, Moscow is not ready to publicly support the separation of Republika Srpska from BiH. This will cost the potential sponsor a lot of money. Moreover, the threat is always more unpleasant than the actual execution of the threats.
